Steven Soderbergh’s New Spirit and 11 More Celebrities You Didn’t Know Made Liquor

Before becoming besotted with singani, Bolivia’s not-oft-heard-of national spirit, Steven Soderbergh primarily drank vodka straight. But when the director of hit flicks like Erin Brockovich and sex, lies, and videotape first encountered the aromatic South American hooch, he immediately noticed, “before even putting it to my lips, its distinct floral bouquet. Then I sipped it. As it went down, it had no burn.” Seduced by its lush texture shot through with bright spice, he wanted more—so much so he’s now introducing his fellow Americans to it through bottles of Singani 63, his own ambitious venture.

Just as production was about to commence on his 2008 biopic Che, starring Benicio Del Toro as the hypnotic Marxist revolutionary, the film’s Bolivian casting director introduced Soderbergh to singani at a party. On that auspicious, appropriately cinematic evening, Soderbergh drank it over ice, and after finishing two glasses thought, “This is really pushing me downfield pretty fast. But I didn’t feel sloppy or slurry.” The surreptitiously mighty singani—clear, crisp, and fruit-forward—forever altered Soderbergh’s life. Soon he was grabbing the casting director by the lapels and asking a slew of questions: “I literally have never tasted anything like this. What is this? Who makes it? Is it available outside of Bolivia? My more immediate concern is can you keep me and the crew supplied for the next five months?”

Soderbergh soon learned that singani, with its 500-year-old roots, is a vital part of Bolivia’s liquid culture, spawned solely from Muscat of Alexandria grapes grown high in the Andes mountains. He also unfortunately discovered it was largely unavailable in the States, which, at the behest of his equally smitten crew, prompted him to begin importing the booze himself in the form of Singani 63. Basing his decision on the sight of backbars crowded with glowing bottles, he didn’t think this would be a terribly difficult endeavor. It was a misjudgment he now likens to “looking around and seeing all the cars on the road and saying, ‘It must be easy to make a car.’ ” After years of navigating labyrinthine liquor laws, Singani 63, the U.S.’s first brush with the spirit, made its debut in 2014 a few years after Soderbergh got the call that 250 cases of it were finally waiting for him in a New Jersey warehouse.

Launching a liquor brand is extremely challenging for even the most adept, booze-savvy entrepreneur, but for a celebrity it’s even more difficult if, like Soderbergh, your target audience consists of well-versed drinks aficionados and passionate bartenders who have long been critical of media-hungry music and film folks slapping their names on products with little reverence for or commitment to its craft. Soderbergh’s vision, however, is markedly different. Singani 63, because it is a true labor of love, remains a priority for Soderbergh, despite his hectic film schedule. It was during an enlightening conversation with Dan Aykroyd, who faced the same scrutiny when he introduced Crystal Head Vodka in an alluring skull-shaped bottle, that the necessity for Soderbergh’s day-to-day commitment was reiterated. “Rule number one for him was: If you’re not going to show up, don’t do it. Otherwise, you won’t succeed,” Soderbergh recalls. Today he’s on his phone at all times, personally visiting accounts (which now span more than 200 in impressive bar-laden destinations like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York) and exploring different cities’ cocktail cultures—whether it’s visiting some of his favorite local New York joints like the Brandy Library and Weather Up or investigating a much-buzzed newcomer. “My experience of going into a bar has been completely ruined. All I do now is stare at the backbar and where they have everything placed. It’s a variation on movies. When you make them, you don’t look at them the same way as those who don’t. The upside is now I go in and start asking questions of the people who work there and find out things,” he explains.

Currently, Singani 63 is misclassified as a brandy in the States, a fate Soderbergh is actively trying to transform. “If we get our own category, it will be a game-changer,” he points out. Considering the rise of the once obscure fellow Latin American spirits pisco and cachaça, which had little commercial success stateside until well-made brands steeped in history started clicking with bartenders who wove them into balanced concoctions, singani is also poised to ascend. Just as pisco and cachaça offer vibrant portals into Peruvian, Chilean, and Brazilian culture, singani might also encourage intrepid travelers to investigate landlocked Bolivia on an upcoming sojourn. “It has a diverse topography, a sort of bowl rimmed by these high canyons. When you fly in, you take this road that serpentines and goes through each social strata,” says Soderbergh. “Bolivians are proud. They have a fascinating, complex culture, but they’re reserved.”

Thanks to Soderbergh’s devoted involvement, he has also successfully converted bartenders to Singani 63. It’s a quality product and actually tastes good, and that’s why one of its early adopters, for instance, was Jim Meehan of New York’s PDT fame. Its fragrant, fresh, herbaceous nature also makes it extremely versatile, enlivening a range of classics like the negroni, margarita, and old fashioned. “It’s what makes us different. In a weird sort of way, by accident I found the equivalent of what I do in my day job,” says Soderbergh. “I perform all these various functions on a film set—cinematographer, writer, producer, director—then there is this spirit you can just plug into any position and it’s happy to be up front or a supporting spirit.”

And in the name of Steven Soderbergh’s unexpected new venture, 11 more surprising celebrities who are in the wine and spirits game: